🇮🇹 Your Guide to: Sanremo 2023 Night One

Tonight begins the 73^rd edition of Italy’s Sanremo festival, hosted by Amadeus, Chiara Ferragni, and Gianni Morandi. A little over a year since Mahmood and Blanco won with their chart sensation Brividi, going on to represent Italy in Eurovision 2022 on home ground in Turin placing 6^th, it’s time to begin the 5-day process of finding a successor. Is a second Italian win this decade happening in Liverpool?

Here we give you the run down of what to expect in tonight’s show.

Running order

Tonight, the first 14 entries will be performed for the first time. This evening is an interesting one, as the two favoured frontrunners for the victory, Ultimo and Marco Mengoni, are both performing, so keep an eye out. Notably for Eurovision fans, the lineup tonight contains Anna Oxa, who represented Italy in Eurovision 1989 alongside Fausto Leali with ‘Avrei Voluto’, placing 9^th, and Marco Mengoni, who represented Italy more recently in 2013 with ‘L’Essenziale’, placing 7^th.

Anna Oxa – ‘Sali (Canto dell’anima)’ (Rise (Song of the soul))

gIANMARIA – ‘Mostro’ (Monster)

Mr. Rain – ‘Supereroi’ (Superheroes)

Marco Mengoni – ‘Due vite’ (Two lives)

Ariete – ‘Mare di guai’ (Sea of troubles)

Ultimo – ‘Alba’ (Sunrise)

Coma_Cose – ‘L’addio’ (The farewell)

Elodie – ‘Due’ (Two)

Leo Gassmann – ‘Terzo cuore’ (Third heart)

I Cugini di Campagna – ‘Lettera 22’ (Letter 22)

Gianluca Grignani – ‘Quando ti manca il fiato’ (When you lose your breath)

Olly – ‘Polvere’ (Dust)

Colla Zio – ‘Non mi va’ (I don’t feel like it)

Mara Sattei – ‘Duemilaminuti’ (Two thousand minutes)

Special guests

The special guests in tonight’s show will be Pooh, Elena Sofia Ricci, to promote the series ‘Fiori sopra l’inferno’, and notably Mahmood and Blanco will return to the stage to perform Brividi, followed by Blanco performing his new song ‘L’isola delle rose’. The President of Italy Sergio Mattarella will be in the audience with his daughter Laura, and Gianni Morandi will sing the national anthem in his presence. Also, Roberto Benigni will present a monologue to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the Italian Constitution before the first acts perform. In a link from the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, we will also see Salmo, and from the Suzuki Stage in Piazza Colombo we’ll see Gemelli di Guidonia and Piero Pelù. Fiorello will also host the after-show ‘Viva Rai2!’ with Fabrizio Biggio and Alessia Marcuzzi, so if you’re craving more at the end of the show, stick around!

Voting

The press jury (comprised of TV, radio, and web representatives) will vote tonight, and at the end of the show the 5 songs that received the highest scores will be announced, with a full ranking of all 28 songs being revealed tomorrow, once they’ve voted on the last 14 songs too.

And that’s it! The first night of Sanremo can be watched on Rai 1, or Rai Play (which will be un-geoblocked for the show) from 20:40 CET to 1:30 CET, with the 14 songs performed tonight expected to be released on streaming platforms shortly afterwards.

Who are you most excited for? Do you think there will be any big surprises or dark horses? Let us know!